Who knew it would be an omen of things to come? Who knew when Steve Kerr rejected Phil Jackson’s offer to be the Knicks head coach last spring, it only would be the beginning of a series of setbacks that has the franchise reeling toward the worst season in its history.

When the wishy-washy Kerr eventually accepted an offer last May to succeed Mark Jackson as head coach with the Warriors, it was the first sign Phil Jackson and his 13 NBA championship rings weren’t going to be an automatic sell.

It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. Once Kerr chose the Warriors, Jackson turned to Derek Fisher, the retiring point guard, who won championships playing the triangle offense with the Lakers — exchanging one rookie head coach for another.

We’ll never know how successful or dreadful Kerr would have been with the Knicks.

He’s certainly in a sweet spot with the Warriors, who improved to 40-9 with a 106-92 victory over the Knicks on Saturday night at the Garden. While Kerr will coach the Western Conference All-Stars here next Sunday in the All-Star Game, it remains uncertain whether Fisher is up to the task of leading the Knicks back to respectability.

With Carmelo Anthony watching from the bench on a recovery day, the Knicks cut a 26-point deficit to five points in the fourth quarter, but still dropped to 10-41, leaving Fisher with the unenviable task of motivating players who likely won’t be with the team next year.

Meanwhile, Phil Jackson hasn’t offered much help. Since losing Kerr, he has traded Tyson Chandler, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith for basically Jose Calderon and cap space. Anthony might shut it down after the All-Star Game to rest his injured knee and Amare Stoudemire is contemplating a buyout and may have played his last home game in Orange and Blue.

Give Kerr credit. He played Jackson like a fiddle. The basketball world knew Kerr, a former guard with Jackson’s Bulls, was the first choice to replace Mike Woodson as head coach. It would be Kerr’s first head coaching job after spending most of his recent years as a broadcaster.

Kerr to the Knicks seemed like a done deal in April, but the courtship dragged. A proposed salary of $5 million a year was made to sound reasonable for a first-year coach. All that was left was to have the press conference at the Garden. But it all changed when Mark Jackson was fired and Kerr was suddenly holding a press conference on the West Coast. Brilliantly played.

Kerr said on Saturday “It was difficult” to decline Phil Jackson’s offer “because I’m very, very close with him and I feel like I’m indebted to him for what has transpired in my career.”

Nonetheless, Kerr got his money, got to stay close to home and inherited a talented roster headed by sharpshooters Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Meanwhile, this season can’t end fast enough for the Knicks, who are hoping to rebuild by signing free agents and through the draft.

But consider this: If Jackson weren’t persuasive enough to get Kerr, how confident can anyone be he can land any of the highly sought after free agents over the next two years?

It won’t be easy. For one, free agents can make more money signing with the teams they currently play for. Also, who really wants to come to a team that might not win 20 games this year?

Selling the Garden and the city can only go so far, and in some aspects could be a turn-off to players, who’d rather not endure the scrutiny and expectations.

Kevin Durant is said to be interested in the Knicks when he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2016, and the courtship will officially begin during this year’s NBA All-Star weekend, during which Anthony will serve as chief recruiter. Maybe he’ll have better luck than Jackson.

Jackson swung and whiffed on Kerr in his first big decision as the Knicks team president. Who knew it wasn’t going to get much better after that?